1894 Sioux City IA (Sioux Citys, Cornhuskers)
Left: This rendering is based on visual documentation for uniform style only. Color information is unknown and the uniform is rendered in values of gray. Minor details may also be undocumented or difficult to determine and an educated guess is made to complete the rendering.
Rendering accuracy:Year: documented Team: documented
Right: This rendering is based on partial visual documentation for uniform style only. Color information is unknown and the uniform is rendered in values of gray. Important details may also be undocumented or difficult to determine and an educated guess is made to complete the rendering.
Rendering accuracy:Year: documented Team: documented
Visual documentation on this uniform:
Photo A
Dated April 1894 to mid-May 1894. Photo year determined by fact that this was the only season Sioux City fielded a team in the Western League. Date range of April 1894 to mid-May 1894 determined by appearance of player Howe, who was signed by another team in late May. The new foliage on the tree in the background of this photo would also suggest an April or early May photo date. Players wore a white uniform in this photograph, with the city name arched across a button placket. Unlike the road uniform which had lace ties, see photo B, the home shirt had four white buttons down the front. The pillbox-style cap had two horizontal bands. All twelve players shown wore a short-sleeved shirt that included button holes on the arms to accept sleeve extensions. Two of the players shown wore their extensions. Of the remaining ten players, five wore a light-colored or white undershirt, three wore a dark undershirt, and two players wore no undershirt. Six of the eight pants shown in the photo had quilted padding. The stitch work of the padding was a different design than typically worn during this period and may suggest the uniforms were made in Sioux City. The two players sitting at lower left both wore low-cut baseball shoes, still rare for this period. The remainder of players wore high-top baseball shoes.
Top row, from left: F Genins (89-91, 94), G Hogreiver (94), H Howe (KC WL 94, SxC 94), A Twineham (StL NL 94, SxC 94), B Cunningham (94), B Jones (SxC 94, GR WL 94) and J Newell (94). Front row: L Marr (94), A Stewart (94), B Hart? (91, 94), J Walsh (Mil WL 94, SxC 94) and F Kraus (94). Player IDs based on identifications given for photo B. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Howe signing info from The Sporting Life, May 26, 1894. Image research from Carson Lorey. Image scan from the Sioux City Historical Society.
Dated April 1894 to mid-May 1894. Detail view of photo A. Detail view showed the style of the lettering on the shirt, including letters that ran onto a shirt pocket. The uniform of the player standing at right showed that the button placket ended in a square tab. Also note that partially visible in the background of this photo was another baseball player who wore a dark-colored cap. This player was most likely a member of the visiting team.
Dated April 1894 to mid-May 1894. Another detail view of photo A. Note that the player standing at left wore pants with quilted padding. However, unlike other examples in this photo, this player’s padding did not extend down to the bottom of the pant legs.
Dated April 1894 to mid-May 1894. Another detail view of photo A. This detail view showed that at least two players in the photo wore low-cut baseball shoes, still uncommon for this period.
Photo B
Dated April 1894 to mid-May 1894. Photo year determined by fact that this was the only season Sioux City fielded a team in the Western League. Date range of April 1894 to mid-May 1894 determined by appearance of player Howe, who was signed by another team in late May. Players wore a white uniform in this photo, and the same uniform that they wore in photo A. Both team photos were seemingly made about the same time and may have been made on the same day. The players that wore a dark undershirt in photo A also wore the same in photo B.
Top row, from left: H Howe (KC WL 94, SxC 94), G Hogreiver (94), (B Watkins mgr 94), B Cunningham (94) and B Jones (SxC 94, GR WL 94). Middle: L Marr (94), J Walsh (Mil WL 94, SxC 94), A Stewart (94), B Hart (91, 94) and J Newell (94). Front: F Genins (89-91, 94), F Kraus (94) and A Twineham (StL NL 94, SxC 94). Image and player IDs from the Sioux City Journal, June 30, 1909. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Howe signing info from The Sporting Life, May 26, 1894. Image research from Chuck McGill.
Photo C
Dated April 1894 to mid-May 1894. Photo year confirmed by fact that this was the only season Sioux City fielded a team in the Western League. Date range of April 1894 to mid-May 1894 determined by appearance of players Parvin and Howe, who were both signed by other teams in late May. Players wore a light colored or light gray shirt in this photo. The shirt had lace ties and the city name arched across the chest.
Top row, from left: B Cunningham (94), H Howe (SxC 94, KC WL 94), B Jones (SxC 94, GR WL 94), G Hogreiver (94) and F Kraus (94). Middle row: A Stewart (94), L Marr (94), (B Watkins mgr 94), F Genins (89-91, 94) and J Newell (94). Front row: B Hart (91, 94), F Parvin (dnp, Min WL 94), J Walsh (Mil WL 94, SxC 94) and A Twineham (StL NL 94, SxC 94). Player IDs from the Spalding Base Ball Guide, 1895. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Parvin and Howe signing info from The Sporting Life, May 26, 1894. The team was called the “Cornhuskers” in The Sporting Life, March 17, 1894 and the “Huskers” in The Sporting Life, July 28, 1894.
Photo D
Dated September 30, 1894. This is the date this collage was printed in a newspaper. Portraits were most likely drawn from photographs that had been made near the end of the 1894 season. Six of the thirteen players shown in this collage were not with the team at the start of the season and therefore were not included in earlier team photos. In this September 1894 collage, players were depicted wearing a white pillbox cap with two dark horizontal bands, the same as worn in earlier photos. However, the shirt and collar of the uniforms in this collage were depicted as having a tone or light color, and also a buttoned front. This does not match the shirt shown in photo C and therefore may have been a third uniform worn by the team.
Row one, from left: A McCauley (SxC 94, Mpls WL 94), E Boyle (Atl SA 94, SxC 94) and C Holohan (Atl SA 94, SxC 94). Row two: F Genins (89-91, 94) and T O’Rourke (Lou 94, StL 94, SxC 94). Row three: G Hogreiver (94), (B Watkins mgr 94) and B Cunningham (94). Row four: B Hart (91, 94), A Stewart (94) and F Kraus (94). Row five: H Killeen (GR WL 94, SxC 94, Tol WL 94), L Marr (94) and K Camp (Chi 94, Ind WL 94, SxC 94). Note that the following players were included in earlier photos but were not included in this collage: Howe, Jones, Newel, Twineham and Walsh. Player IDs from collage. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Image from the Sioux City Journal, September 30, 1894. Image scan from Peter Reitan.
Written documentation on this uniform:
April 1894: “The Sioux city players made a pleasing appearance. They sport new uniforms, new gloves, new mask, new chest protector, and put up the newest kind of game. […] The Brooklyns wore the same kind of uniforms now sported by the Sioux City, gray with blue stockings and belt.” From the Pittsburgh Post, April 5, 1894. Research from Ed Morton.
April 25, 1894, Sioux City v. Minneapolis, at Sioux City, Evans Park, home opener: “The Huskers appeared in their white uniforms. There are no jonahs about those suits.” From the Sioux City Journal, April 26, 1894. The newspaper also noted “fully 300 spectators viewed the game from Poverty hill and as many more were on wagons outside the fence. The scores of the games from other league cities, posted on the park blackboard, made an interesting feature.”
Team genealogy: Sioux City IA, 1894-1894
Sioux City joined the Western League (WL) when the league reformed for the 1894 season. Sioux City played one season in the WL and then the franchise was transferred to St. Paul for the 1895 season. Information from wikipedia.com.
Rendering posted: October 23, 2018
Diggers on this uniform: Carson Lorey, Chuck McGill, Ed Morton, Nigel Ayres, Peter Reitan,